Our smartphone surfs slowly even if we are under Wi-Fi or with full 4G signal "> techniques most used by the governments of countries that want to censor certain websites. Whatever your need, in this guide we will show you how to change the DNS on Android and iPhone, so as to benefit from a faster and above all free connection.
READ ALSO -> How to change DNS on your computer and router
Most of the changes must be made in the network settings of the wireless connection (which offers a specific entry for DNS within the options for setting the network IP), and not all smartphones offer access to the menu in a simple and immediate way (some screens may change from model to model, especially with regards to Android smartphones).
For this we have created, for each operating system, two ways to proceed: the first involves manually changing the DNS (where possible) without installing anything on the phone, the second plans to install specific apps on the device to choose and change DNS on the fly, sometimes with a simple click.
1) How to change DNS on Android
To change DNS manually on Android we will have to act on the settings of Wi-Fi connections: currently it is not possible to manually set DNS on 4G or 3G connections; for those we can use the automated procedures that we will describe later.
So let's connect to any Wi-Fi network, then go to the Settings app and click Wi-Fi .
Press and hold on the name of the wireless network to which we are connected (or click on an arrow symbol, usually present next to the name) and select the Edit network item.
From the new menu that appears, click on the item under the IP Settings field (there should be DHCP or Automatic ) and select the Static or Manual item .
In the new window that we will see we set a free IP address (we can also leave the one present by default), the gateway (i.e. the address of the router to which we are connected, usually 192.168.1.1) and leave the default network prefix length, then enter the IP addresses of the chosen DNS server in the appropriate fields ( DNS 1 and DNS 2 ).
For convenience we can enter the IP addresses of the Google DNS servers, that is 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4, but we can choose any other secure DNS service, the important thing is to no longer use those offered by the telephone operator for the line in use.
The changes will be specific to that Wi-Fi connection: changing the connection or turning off the Wi-Fi will no longer take advantage of the DNS set manually.
If we want to automate the change of DNS between all Wi-Fi networks or we want to change them also for Internet connections via LTE or 3G, we will have to use specific apps.
The best apps for changing DNS on Android are:
- DNS changer by Blokada
- Burakgon DNS Changer
- Frostnerd.com DNS Charger
- Cloudflare DNS Charger
Using one of the previous apps on our smartphone we will be able to choose which DNS servers to use for each type of connection, adding new services if necessary, so as to obtain safer, freer and uncensored browsing.
In order to take full advantage of all the apps, we recommend trying them only on devices with Android 5.0 or higher, so as to have full support for DNS change.
What I recommend to try now is the DNS Charger offered by Blokada which I currently consider the best in its category.
NOTE: To facilitate the modification of DNS on mobile, it is also possible to install an app to set the DNS on Android and iPhone with Cloudflare 1.1.1.1, which is automatic and supports not only wifi networks, but also data connection.
Cloudflare, in addition to being one of the fastest DNS, is also protected so that no one can know which sites we visit and capable of unblocking censorship and blocking, so that we can open any site in the world.
2) Change DNS on iPhone and iPad
Apple's iOS operating system also allows you to change DNS servers on each Wi-Fi network.
It is not possible to set up a preferred system-wide DNS server that applies to all connections so you have to do it for each one.
Let's connect to the nearest Wi-Fi network through the Settings menu -> Wi-Fi and, once connected, click on the information icon next to the network entry (the lowercase "I" in a blue circle).
In the new window we touch the Configure DNS field, select the Manual item and add the new server by clicking on Add server and indicating the address in the selected field ( 8.8.8.8 for example).
To confirm, touch the Save item at the top right.
If we wanted to automate the change of DNS on all Wi-Fi connections and on LTE, we can use dedicated apps.
The best app for changing DNS on iPhone is CloudFlare 1.1.1.1.
Using this app we will be able to automatically set the DNS servers for all network connections (choosing the service that convinces us the most) and take advantage of the DNS servers offered by Cloudflare, which offer speed, security and privacy even when we are away from home.
In other articles we have seen how to open obscured sites by changing DNS, how to use the most secure DNS of OpenDNS and, above all, how to use the Google DNS which are the most recommended ones given the goodness and the high number of Google servers scattered around the world.
In another article, we saw how to further increase browsing security by using VPN apps to surf safely and on sites blocked by Android, iPhone and iPad.
